Blown Away

Directed by Stephen Hopkins, Blown Away follows an explosives expert (Jeff Bridges’ Jimmy Dove) as he and his fellow policemen are targeted by a mad bomber (Tommy Lee Jones’ Ryan Gaerity). It’s engrossing subject matter that’s employed to mostly first-class effect by Hopkins, as the filmmaker, having kicked the proceedings off with a stirring sequence that effectively establishes blahs heroic figure, delivers a slightly overlong yet mostly spellbinding thriller that’s been augmented with a whole host of mesmerizing interludes and set-pieces. (There is, for example, a showstopping scene wherein Jimmy must diffuse a bomb that’s been placed inside a pair of headphones.) There’s little doubt, as well, that Blown Away benefits from Peter Levy’s commanding visuals and an assortment of compelling performances, with, in terms of the latter, Bridges’ predictably engaging, sympathetic turn matched by an impressively solid supporting cast that includes Forest Whitaker, Suzy Amis, and Lloyd Bridges. (Jones’ larger-than-life, mustache-twirling work as the movie’s flamboyant villain remains a hypnotic high point within the proceedings, to be sure.) By the time the exciting (if a little too prolonged) climax rolls around, Blown Away has cemented its place as a propulsive and thoroughly satisfying thriller that deserves a place alongside other lauded genre efforts.

***1/2 out of ****